Winnipeg police issue weed-in-car ticket one hour after legalization

We know it was only a matter of time, but—an hour? Really?

Many marijuana users think it's less hazardous because cannabis tends to make people drive more slowly and less aggressively than, say, drivers who are drunk, according to studies.Thinkstock

It was only a matter of time before somebody got a ticket for smoking legal marijuana in their car—we’re just surprised that time was one hour.

Police in Winnipeg, Manitoba gave a driver a ticket for being high while driving literally just 60 minutes after weed was legalized nationwide.

Around 1 am on Wednesday morning, officer Gord Spado – yes, his name was Gord; we couldn’t make this up – issued a ticket for “consuming cannabis in a motor vehicle,” according to a CBC News report.

“An hour into legality, and something illegal,” Spado said Wednesday.

Just like alcohol, consuming cannabis is legal, but it’s not legal to smoke it in a vehicle. It’s not clear from the report if the offender was driving when they received the ticket or if they were parked.

Cannabis is only currently available legally if you purchase it online, so it is unlikely that the weed, in this case, was legally purchased, but Spado did not issue a ticket for that.

“It doesn’t look like anything was pursued as far as the illicit component of it goes,” he said, adding it will be difficult to determine if cannabis has been legally purchased or not.

“Sometimes we can [prove it], sometimes we can’t. And when edibles are legally produced commercially, then it might be a little bit easier, because there’ll be packaging and things like that that might be visible.”

Edibles are still banned in Canada, so be mindful of that. It is also not legal to carry cannabis in your vehicle unless it is in your trunk (the same rules apply to alcohol).

This is the first ticket we’ve seen after the legalization (of course it is, did we mention that it was literally an hour?) but we don’ t expect it will be the last. In Manitoba, this ticket cost the offender $672, so if you’re thinking of smoking a doobie sitting it a parking lot, don’t. Wait until you get home.